Page 273 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

Bergamini, she had briefly been Ludovico's mis- nical evidence (Kwiatowski 1955) for the original cannot be certain when the first version was fin-
tress while she was still in her teens. Leonardo's presence of a window or other opening on the ished, this preparatory drawing can be dated with
portrait was the subject of a sonnet by Ludovico's right is inconclusive, and it is likely that the whole some confidence to the earliest phase of Leo-
court poet, Bernardo Bellincioni, who died in of the background was more or less uniform in nardo's work on the project. In the painting, the
1492. In the poem, Nature declares that she has hue. There seems no reason to accept the com- angel turns his head and eyes to look out at the
1
been put into the shade by the victorious "Vinci" monly voiced view that the motif of the hair spectator and points to the infant St. John the
(another pun), since the artist has captured Ceci- gathered in a veil around and under her chin is Baptist, thus acting as interlocutor for the specta-
lia's "splendid eyes, beside which the sun appears not original. Indeed, it plays a significant role in tor. The compellingly direct gaze of the posed
as a dark shadow." The poet assuages Nature's the symphony of curves around her face. model shows that the angel was conceived as per-
envy by pointing out that the glory of her crea- Overall, the picture is in much better condition forming this role at an early stage in the planning
tion will be transmitted to posterity by the "talent than the standard accounts suggest, and gives the of the picture. In the second version of the paint-
and hand of Leonardo"—with due thanks to clearest indication of the freshly brilliant quality ing, the literally demonstrative motifs of the
Ludovico. Some measure of the esteem in which of Leonardo's painting during his period at the angel's glance and gesture were to be abandoned.
both the sitter and the artist were held can be Sforza court in Milan. As in the Ginevra de' The delicacy and descriptive power of the paral-
gained from a letter that Isabella d'Este, the nota- Bend, Leonardo has pressed his hand into the wet lel hatching Leonardo used in his silverpoint
ble marchioness of Mantua, wrote to Cecilia in paint to soften some of the tonal transitions. The drawings during the earlier part of his career are
1498. Isabella asked to borrow the portrait to motif of the sitter's glance, turned apparently in nowhere more perfectly exemplified than in this
compare with "certain beautiful portraits from response to someone beyond the confines of the study. Among his contemporaries, perhaps only
the hand of Giovanni Bellini." In her reply Cecilia picture, is entirely novel, conveying a remark- Domenico Ghirlandaio came close to this level of
explained that the portrait was no longer a good able effect of what Leonardo called "il concetto refinement in the handling of this very demand-
likeness. This problem did not arise from any dell'anima" (the intentions of the subject's mind). ing medium.
"defect of the master, of whom I do not in truth The highly charged sensibility of the "fastidious" On the verso of this sheet is a pen drawing
believe anyone comparable can be found, but only ermine transforms it from a conventional emblem of a knot motif in an oval surround, made for an
from the fact that this portrait was made at such into a living metaphor for the lady's own charac- unknown decorative purpose. M.K.
an immature age that I have since totally changed ter. The nearest parallel for the animal is the
in appearance." beautiful silverpoint drawing of a bear's head in
The dating of the portrait on stylistic grounds is a private collection (Popham 1946, 78a; London
problematic, and it has generally been related to 1989, 37), which also probably dates from c. 1490. 1/1A
Leonardo's work on the first version of the Virgin The subtle yet structurally firm modeling Leonardo da Vinci
of the Rocks (Louvre, Paris) around 1483-1485. of Cecilia's head and hand, and of the ermine's
The modeling of the head is comparable to that in head, achieves the sense of relief Leonardo Florentine, 1452-1519
the study in Turin for the Angel Uriel's head (cat. emphasized in the 14905 as the ultimate illusion- PORTRAIT OF A LADY IN PROFILE
171). However, on the basis of new evidence about istic achievement of the painter. M.K.
Cecilia's age discovered by Grazioso Sironi and c. 1481
Janice Shell (forthcoming), a date earlier than 1. A detailed study of the painting's condition is being silverpoint 3 on pinkish paper
1489-1490 should be excluded. The way in which undertaken in conjunction with this exhibition. The 30 x 20 (n /4 x 7%)
the bony structure of the ermine's head has been results will appear in a forthcoming publication. references: Clark and Pedretti 1968—1969, 12505;
1946, no. 73
Popham
understood by the artist is comparable to Leo- Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth u, Royal Library,
nardo's studies of the human skull of 1489. It is Windsor Castle
even possible that Ludovico commissioned the l/l
portrait in 1491 as a betrothal or wedding gift. Although a significant proportion of Leonardo's
The ermine was a well-known symbol of modera- Leonardo da Vinci production of paintings was concerned with por-
tion and chastity. As Leonardo wrote, "because of Florentine, 1452-1519 traiture, direct portrait drawings (rather than
its moderation it only eats once a day" (Richter HEAD AND SHOULDERS "studies from life" for religious paintings or other
1970/1977,1234), and "the ermine would die OF A YOUNG WOMAN narratives) have rarely survived. The closest com-
rather than soil itself" (Richter 1970/1977, 1263). parison to this sheet is the sharply characterized
A drawing by Leonardo in a private collection c. 1483-1485 Young Man in Profile at Windsor (Popham 1946,
(Popham 1946,109) shows an ermine subjecting silverpoint with white heightening no. 12498), probably datable to c. 1480. The
itself to a beating by a cruel hunter rather than on prepared paper drawn Portrait of Isabella d'Este in the Louvre
l
besmirch itself in a "muddy lair." The attribution 18.1 x 15.9 (j /s x 6V 4) (Popham 1946, no. 172) and the painted portraits
of chastity to an admired lady was entirely references: Popham 1946, 157; Pedretti 1975, 2 all display a level of generalization at least one
conventional in courtly poetry, and many other Biblioteca Reale, Turin step removed from such uncomplicated life
features of the portrait, "the bewitching eyes, studies.
smooth brows, sweet lips, graceful neck, gentle It has been widely recognized that this study The amplitude and coherence of form, created
breast and ivory hands — speak, in visual terms, (Turin 15572), apparently drawn from life, was by a masterly combination of descriptive contour
the language of Petrarchan sonnets" (Kemp 1985). used as the basis of the Angel Uriel's head in the and parallel hatching, have led scholars to suggest
The original appearance of the painting has first version of the Virgin of the Rocks (Louvre, a dating in Leonardo's Milanese period. Yet, the
given rise to a good deal of debate. The major Paris; second version in National Gallery, simple headdress of this unidentified sitter is
change has occurred in the background, which has London), which was commissioned in 1483 by the more comparable to his earlier Florentine draw-
been repainted with black pigment (Brown 1990). Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception for ings (for example, Windsor i2276v). Other
Traces of the originally gray-blue background are the large carved altarpiece in its chapel in S. Fran- silverpoint drawings that can be assigned to 1481
visible under high magnification around the out- cesco Grande in Milan. Although the subsequent or earlier —especially the Louvre study for the
lines of the figure (Bull 1991). The available tech- history of the commission is very tangled, and we Madonna Litta (Popham 1946, no. 19) and the

272 CIRCA 1492